Australian Treasurer Frydenberg: 2019-2020 final budget deficit of A$85.3B or 4.3% of GDP

The federal government debt has jumped to nearly 25% of gross domestic product (GDP), courtesy of the significant surge in the increased welfare payments amid the coronavirus crisis, the Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said at a news briefing in Canberra on Friday.

Additional comments

“Government debt for the year ending June 30 totaled A$491.2 billion ($346.6 billion), or 24.8% of the country's GDP.”

“The figure is slightly higher than Australia's official forecast in July of A$488.2 billion, or 24.6% of GDP.”

“The budget swung into a massive deficit of A$85.3 billion, slightly lower than its July forecast of A$85.8 billion.”

Market reaction

Amid risk-on buying and broad US dollar pullback, the recovery in the AUD/USD pair is gaining momentum above 0.7050.  The AUD bulls ignore the above comments. The spot adds 0.13% to now trade at 0.7056.